A local union inappropriately interfered with workers' rights to hold a union decertification vote, according to a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

Wayne Devore, an employee of Bemis North America in Centerville, filed the complaint with the assistance of National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

Devore alleges that the Teamsters Local 727S interfered "with his right to hold a vote to remove a union that is not supported by a majority of workers," according to a news release issued by the foundation.

Local 727S members could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday. But a Teamsters attorney representing the union called the claims "baseless."

Devore filed a petition for a decertification election with the NLRB in October 2017, after collecting signatures from his coworkers opposed to representation by the Teamsters. Under NLRB rules, employees can trigger a vote to strip union officials of their bargaining powers when at least 30 percent of employees in the bargaining unit sign a decertification petition.

His complaint argues that union officials then filed "frivolous" unfair labor practice charges that "appeared to have been filed solely to delay or block the decertification," according to the news release.

“As is the case here, far too often union bosses are more interested in holding on to their power rather than respecting the rights and wishes of the rank-and-file workers they claim to represent,” Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, said in the release.

Peter Leff, general counsel for the Graphic Communicators Conference of the Teamsters, rejected the foundation's characterization of events at the Centerville plant.

"I think the allegation that these charge were field just to postpone or stall a decertification election is extremely frivolous," he said. "There's no support of that."

The union argues that the decertication vote has been tainted and should not proceed, Leff said.

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Leff noted that workers began filing fair labor complaints in July, long before the decertification attempt emerged in the fall. He said workers, who are still negotiating terms of their first contract, have collected more than 20 allegations against the employer, including improper layoffs, surveillance of workers and discipline for participating in union activity.

"We've got some pretty serious allegations," he said.

The National Labor Relations Board has found that some of the complaints filed by the union have merit and those cases can continue, Leff said.